Plastic metallized antenna unit

Abstract

The utility model relates to the technical field of antenna manufacturing, in particular to a plastic metallization antenna unit, which comprises a substrate, a first antenna plate fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the substrate, a second antenna plate mounted on the upper surface of the first antenna plate, a protective layer fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the second antenna plate, and a metal layer fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the protective layer. The substrate is also provided with a connector; compared with the prior art, the method has the advantages that the influence on the microstructure of the base material is very small, and the roughness of not more than 0.15 microns is only increased on the base material after metallization; according to the method, materials which are not resistant to high temperature can be treated, and good coating adhesive force can be obtained without adding a binding material; according to the invention, a thicker metal coating can be obtained, and the requirements of signal transmission of antennas in various frequency bands are met; various needed metal patterns can be obtained in a laser carving mode; and for a high-temperature-resistant material, the plating layer treated by the method meets the medium-temperature welding requirement.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of antenna manufacturing, in particular to a plastic metallized antenna unit. Background Art

[0002] As antenna products develop towards precision, lightweight, low cost and conformal design, various polymer material metallization products have emerged to replace metal and PCB.

[0003] Among non-metallic materials, some materials can obtain metal coatings with low roughness and high adhesion through simple chemical roughening, such as electroplating grade ABS. Most materials need to be subjected to a combination of mechanical roughening and chemical roughening to obtain coatings with better adhesion. This method requires the destruction of the microstructure of the surface of the substrate, resulting in greater roughness, which has a relatively large adverse effect on the performance of the antenna. Vacuum plating can obtain metal coatings with low roughness and high adhesion on the surface of the material, but the coating thickness is very thin, generally less than 2 microns, which cannot meet the needs of most antenna products. For this reason, the utility model proposes a plastic metallized antenna unit that can solve the above problems. Utility Model Content

[0004] The purpose of the utility model is to provide a plastic metallized antenna unit to solve the problems raised in the above background technology.

[0005] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the utility model provides the following technical solution: a plastic metallized antenna unit, comprising a substrate, a first antenna board is fixedly installed on the upper surface of the substrate, a second antenna board is installed on the upper surface of the first antenna board, a protective layer is fixedly installed on the upper surface of the second antenna board, and a connector is also installed on the substrate.

[0006] As a preferred technical solution of the utility model, an outer surface of the substrate is provided with an electroplating layer.

[0007] As a preferred technical solution of the utility model, an electroplating thickening layer is provided on the outer surface of the electroplating layer.

[0008] As a preferred technical solution of the utility model, the substrate is made of thermoplastic material or thermosetting material.

[0009] As a preferred technical solution of the utility model, the substrate is made of aluminum alloy.

[0010] As a preferred technical solution of the utility model, the first antenna board, the second antenna board and the protective layer are all made of high-temperature resistant quartz cyanate composite material.

[0011] As a preferred technical solution of the utility model, the thickness of the electroplating layer is 0.3-0.5 μm.

[0012] As a preferred technical solution of the utility model, the upper surface of the connector is covered with a silicone plug.

[0013] As a preferred technical solution of the utility model, the substrate and the connector are connected by welding.

[0014] A method for manufacturing a plastic metallized antenna unit comprises the following steps:

[0015] S1. Using a thermoplastic material or a thermosetting material as a preparation material for the substrate, which can be cured and formed; in said S1, the curing and forming is CNC, injection molding, molding or 3D printing;

[0016] S2. Use plasma to clean and roughen the surface; this step is completed in customized equipment. The gas molecules inside the high vacuum chamber are excited by electric energy, and the gas particles accelerated by the electric field hit the material surface at high speed, destroying the original bonding mode between molecules at a depth of several microns, and removing surface materials at a certain depth to form fine bumps. At the same time, the gas components generated become reactive functional groups (or functional groups), which change the molecular structure of the material surface, activate the substrate surface, increase wettability, increase surface energy, and improve the material's plating performance.

[0017] S3. Chemical copper plating, the coating thickness is generally 0.3-0.5 microns. This action is generally completed within 3 hours after plasma treatment. The coating thickness is no more than 0.5 microns, which is convenient for subsequent laser engraving circuits;

[0018] S4. Engraving circuits: For products that require partial electroplating, use a laser engraving machine to scan the surface of the substrate to remove the copper layer of excess material and retain the required pattern, including the connection lines required for electroplating;

[0019] S5. Electroplating thickening: micro-etch the product with an acidic solvent to remove the surface oxide layer, and then electroplate copper to the required thickness. The surface of the copper layer can be electroplated to obtain electroplated copper, nickel, tin, gold and other metals, and then sealed;

[0020] S6. Remove the electroplating wires. For complex patterns, you can use CNC milling to remove the redundant circuit wires. You can also use a blade to cut and remove them.

[0021] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the utility model are:

[0022] The utility model discloses a plastic metallized antenna unit, which has little effect on the microstructure of the substrate, and only increases the roughness of the substrate by no more than 0.15 microns after metallization; the utility model can also process materials that are not resistant to high temperatures, and obtain good coating adhesion without adding bonding materials; the utility model can obtain a thicker metal coating to meet the requirements of antenna signal transmission in various frequency bands; the utility model can obtain various required metal patterns by laser engraving; for high temperature resistant materials, the coating processed by the utility model meets the medium temperature welding requirements (180°C-200°C).

[0023] Other features and advantages of the present invention will be described in detail in the following specific embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the utility model;

[0025] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the molding structure during the manufacturing process of the antenna unit of the utility model;

[0026] In the figure: 10, substrate; 20, first antenna board; 30, second antenna board; 40, protective layer; 11, connector. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the utility model to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the utility model. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the utility model, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the utility model, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the utility model.

[0028] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "vertical", "up", "down", "horizontal", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

[0029] In the description of the present invention, it is also necessary to explain that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "set", "install", "connect", and "connect" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0030] See also Figure 1-2 In this embodiment, a plastic metallized antenna unit is provided, including a substrate 10, a first antenna board 20 is fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the substrate 10, a second antenna board 30 is mounted on the upper surface of the first antenna board 20, a protective layer 40 is fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the second antenna board 30, and a connector 11 is also mounted on the substrate 10; an electroplating layer is provided on the outer surface of the substrate 10; an electroplating thickening layer is provided on the outer surface of the electroplating layer; the substrate 10 is made of thermoplastic material or thermosetting material; the substrate 10 is made of aluminum alloy; the first antenna board 20, the second antenna board 30 and the protective layer 40 are all made of high-temperature resistant quartz cyanate composite material; the thickness of the electroplating layer is 0.3-0.5μm; the upper surface of the connector 11 is covered with a silicone plug; the substrate 10 and the connector 11 are welded.

[0031] A method for manufacturing a plastic metallized antenna unit comprises the following steps:

[0032] S1. Using a thermoplastic material or a thermosetting material as a preparation material for the substrate 10, which can be cured and formed; in S1, the curing and forming is CNC, injection molding, molding or 3D printing;

[0033] S2. Use plasma to clean and roughen the surface; this step is completed in customized equipment. The gas molecules inside the high vacuum chamber are excited by electric energy, and the gas particles accelerated by the electric field hit the material surface at high speed, destroying the original bonding mode between molecules at a depth of several microns, and removing surface materials at a certain depth to form fine bumps. At the same time, the gas components generated become reactive functional groups (or functional groups), which change the molecular structure of the material surface, activate the substrate surface, increase wettability, increase surface energy, and improve the material's plating performance.

[0034] S3. Chemical copper plating, the coating thickness is generally 0.3-0.5 microns. This action is generally completed within 3 hours after plasma treatment. The coating thickness is no more than 0.5 microns, which is convenient for subsequent laser engraving circuits;

[0035] S4. Engraving circuits: For products that require partial electroplating, use a laser engraving machine to scan the surface of the substrate to remove the copper layer of excess material and retain the required pattern, including the connection lines required for electroplating;

[0036] S5. Electroplating thickening. Use an acidic solvent to micro-etch the product to remove the surface oxide layer, then electroplate copper to the required thickness. The surface of the copper layer can be electroplated to obtain electroplated copper, nickel, tin, gold and other metals, and then sealed;

[0037] S6. Remove the electroplating wires. For complex patterns, you can use CNC milling to remove the redundant circuit wires. You can also use a blade to cut and remove them.

[0038] Specifically, in this embodiment, the case is an airborne antenna unit, the substrate is an aluminum alloy, the antenna 1, the antenna board 2 and the protective layer are high temperature resistant quartz cyanate composite materials;

[0039] applying a quartz cyanate composite cloth onto an aluminum alloy substrate;

[0040] The aluminum alloy substrate is electroplated for protection, and the non-electroplated area is coated with protective paint;

[0041] Use plasma to roughen the quartz cyanate surface, using high power to enhance adhesion;

[0042] Chemical copper plating on quartz cyanate, thickness 0.3-0.5μm;

[0043] Laser engraving to remove the copper layer outside the antenna radiation line;

[0044] Micro-etching removes the oxide layer, uses the through hole as the electroplating hanging hole, electroplating thickens the electroplating layer, and finally plates Cu8Ag2, and removes the plating protective paint;

[0045] Solder the outer conductor of the connector to the substrate. You can use solder paste and reflow soldering.

[0046] Use medium-temperature solder paste to solder the inner conductor to the line to form the second antenna board;

[0047] Covering the second antenna board with quartz cyanate to form the base layer of the first antenna board;

[0048] The aluminum alloy substrate is coated with a coating protective paint, and the connector is protected by a silicone plug;

[0049] High power plasma roughening, chemical copper plating thickness 0.3-0.5μm;

[0050] Laser engraving circuits, removing non-functional areas, retaining electroplated connections between functional areas, with a width of about 0.5-0.8mm;

[0051] Use a special electroplating hanger to clamp the antenna unit and electroplating to thicken the coating to Cu8Ag2;

[0052] CNC milling removes the electroplating process connection lines to form a first antenna plate;

[0053] The surface is protected by quartz cyanate coating.

[0054] The present application has little effect on the microstructure of the substrate, and only increases the roughness of the substrate by no more than 0.15 microns after metallization; the present application can also process materials that are not resistant to high temperatures, and good coating adhesion can be obtained without adding bonding materials; the present application can obtain thicker metal coatings to meet the requirements of antenna signal transmission in various frequency bands; the present application can obtain various required metal patterns through laser engraving; for high temperature resistant materials, the coating processed by the present application meets the requirements of medium temperature welding (180℃-200℃).

[0055] Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present invention, and that the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A plastic metallized antenna unit, characterized in that: The invention comprises a substrate (10), wherein a first antenna plate (20) is fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the substrate (10), a second antenna plate (30) is mounted on the upper surface of the first antenna plate (20), a protective layer (40) is fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the second antenna plate (30), and a connector (11) is also mounted on the substrate (10).

2. A plastic metallized antenna unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The outer surface of the substrate (10) is provided with an electroplating layer.

3. A plastic metallized antenna unit according to claim 2, characterized in that: The outer surface of the electroplating layer is provided with an electroplating thickening layer.

4. The plastic metallized antenna unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The substrate (10) is made of thermoplastic material or thermosetting material.

5. The plastic metallized antenna unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The substrate (10) is made of aluminum alloy.

6. The plastic metallized antenna unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first antenna plate (20), the second antenna plate (30) and the protective layer (40) are all made of a high-temperature resistant quartz cyanate composite material.

7. The plastic metallized antenna unit according to claim 2, characterized in that: The thickness of the electroplating layer is 0.3-0.5 μm.

8. The plastic metallized antenna unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The upper surface of the connector (11) is covered with a silicone plug.

9. The plastic metallized antenna unit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The substrate (10) and the connector (11) are connected by welding.

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